Cort,
As president of a country it is Chavez’s duty to inform the country if he is no longer able to run the country in the way that he was elected to do so. The change in appearances on TV from last year to this year clearly show that he hasn’t been able to keep up with the demands of being president under the treatment to overcome his cancer.

With all due respect, no one care’s (or its no one’s business to care) about anyone’s health, unless it has a direct impact on their lives. Unfortunately, Chavez’s health has a direct impact on my life, your life and that of the other 22 Million Venezuelans out there, whether Chavistas or not.

Hugo Chavez will NOT,…NOT…make it to January 10th. As I’ve said all along,….there will be a new Presidential election shortly. Fasten your seat belts and put your trays in the locked upright position,…we’re in for a rough landing.

The constitution says that we have 30 days to call for the new election, and in those 30 days they could be saying well the special election would be in X months..( you know the preparation, etc) and of course count in all the things they will need to raspar la olla, or invent another thing…

An excerpt: “Be skeptical of anyone who advertises or offers hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat conditions such as multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, cancer, AIDS, stroke or migraine headaches. At present there is no scientific proof that this therapy is useful in treating these other conditions.”

Is there a doctor in the house? Perhaps someone can tell us what the need for hyperbaric oxygen treatment tells us about the likely ailment. From what I read, it seems to indicate that reports saying the radiation therapy had damaged bone tissue, or perhaps soft tissue, may be correct. And that other forms of treatment for what looks like the result of medical incompetence have failed to work.

-not a doctor- it is probably a trade-off between risking some cancer cell remaining alive and the tissue damage. How bad that actually is? I don’t know, but this time Chávez is not announcing that himself, and apparently his condition was deteriorating. If they went that far with the radiation it would also imply that the risk of a new recurrence was high (in line with a recurrence after chemotherapy too). All in all I would say “la tercera es la vencida”

Right, there is no verifiable information, but the minimal amount given by Chávez is plausible, it *could* be true (given all the context I tend to believe it is). If not, then it should be no better would I say.

It does not matter…it could be the hyperbaric chamber treatment, as a way, in medicine qhen is nothing else to do you could try whatever, just to do something, that does not mean is going to cure anything. Maybe is a New Michael Jackson fixation, and they would give him propofol for the pain…whatever it is…he is not working…but of course in Venezuela that does not matter anymore…

There is (in Caracas): http://tinyurl.com/bnvfrqo with a variety of payment options.
But some people are way too refined. Take for instance, the wealthy, such as the Bolibourgeosie. They can arrange for hyperbaric treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.
Chávez opts for total privacy, which he knows he can get at la Clínica Mayonesa in Havana, Cuba.

Townie, Clínica Mayonesa is a joke based on the Mayo Clinic. (Actually, my brother did a fellowship at the latter, many years ago, when he referred to it as la clínica mayonesa. Meaning, the joke is not my original contribution.)

That would have required prison officials to actually perform an examination at the time the rape took place. Obviously, Venezuelan prisons are not run in such a way that they have the resources or inclination to afford inmates this sort of service.

Furthermore, if she had truly been assigned her own cell, why not offer any evidence of this? Maria’s side of the story is necessarily he said she said, but the prison officials should easily be able to offer hard evidence such as prison records, security camera footage and so forth. That’s what prison officials in the rest for the world do to counter wild claims of abuse by inmates.

On top of that, you know very well Hugo Chavez is recovered from cancer and healthy. If he knew these accusations to be false, he would have publicly denounced them before leaving for Cuba. His failure to do that demonstrates he knows there are truth to them.